By STEVE MASCORD
IT was rugby league’s Digital Age Classic, a generational epic that could not have played out in remotely the same unimaginable way before the video referee.
Things were humming along nicely enough in the first (even though it was the second played – first versus fourth is always the first) qualifying final in Canberra between the Raiders and Brisbane, 10 minutes into the second half.
Ushered into the arena by a ritual borrowed from the Iceland national soccer team, the Green Machine led 18-12. Play had been engaging, if not pristine, enough on a crisp late winter’s afternoon.
But then Broncos pinup Reece Walsh and Raiders hard-man Hudson Young became involved in a set-to. Canberra captain Joseph Tapine had seen something that prompted him to rush in, something the cameras had not quite captured.
Enter the toggle button.
Walsh had lunged with his head at Young, the replays showed. If it becomes a head-butt when you make contact, then that’s what it was.
Referee Ashley Klein – a pantomime villain for many rugby league fans with whom Raiders coach Ricky Stuart clashed the morning after Australia lost the 2008 World Cup final – sent Young to the sin bin.
Would the game’s blue-eyed boy, Walsh, be sent off for good, as thousands of head-butters (and some lunge-ers) had since 1895? No. A sin bin, too.
Walsh argued with Klein as if aggrieved but betrayed his actual relief when he smiled and stuck out his tongue as he trudged off.
In his absence, the minor premiers took procession-like control. A try. Then another.
The official statistical record of the game reads: 65:42 Linebreak Reece Walsh Broncos”. Above that: “Try. Reece Walsh. Broncos”.
And at 69 minutes, another Broncos try. At 71 minutes, a Reece Walsh 40/20, laying the platform for yet another Brisbane touchdown. Michael Maguire’s men were just two behind.
And at 76, we thought we’d seen it all and would be breathlessly telling our oblivious friends about what they’d missed when Walsh tried a two-point field goal and it struck the CROSSBAR.
The crossbar, if you please!
But what the brilliant – and some would say unjustly present – Reece Walsh could not achieve, the toggle button was about to.
When he tried and missed another miracle drop goal and Canberra were as convinced they’d won as you are that up is up and down is down, Viking marauder Zac Hosking was found to have taken out his legs.
On replay, of course.
A penalty in front and a tied scoreline. Because this is a final, it’s old school extra time, not golden point initially. But old school extra time with new school tools.
After missed field goals from Walsh and Jamal Fogarty (two), the Raiders once more erupted in celebration (that doesn’t do it justice – the entire stadium seemed to explode like a supernova of delirium) in the 92nd minute when Jamal Fogarty latched onto a ricocheted kick to plunge over.
But Mr Toggle wasn’t finished yet.
Raiders winger Jed Stuart, the coach’s son, had knocked on in the mid-air contest that proceeded what – like several others today – would have been written up as the “winning play” last century.
“It hits the right finger of Jed Stuart first,” Toggle’s disembodied voice told hundreds of thousands of engrossed TV viewers.
And so Brisbane veteran Ben Hunt, whose relationship with replays was forever soured by a grand final gaffe, landed the winning point once golden point started – from 40 metres out.
There’s an old saying about putting genies back in bottles and another about planting one’s cranium in sediment.
Technology is the genie and nostalgia is that inviting body of sand. Time to toss the bottle in the water, lay back and face the sunshine of our Brave New World.
BRISBANE 29 (Staggs Mariner Walsh Karapani Shibasaki tries Walsh 4 goals Hunt field goal) beat CANBERRA 28 (Weekes 2 Young Kris Strange tries Forgarty 4 goals) at GIO Stadium after extra time and golden point.
Teams:
CANBERRA: Kaeo Weekes; Savelio Tamale, Matthew Timoko, Sebastian Kris, Jed Stewart; Ethan Strange, Jamal Fogarty; Josh Papal’i, Tom Starling, Joe Tapine (c), Hudson Smith, Zac Hosking, Corey Horsburgh. Res: Owen Pattie, Semi Sasagi, Morgan Smithies, Ata Matiota. 18th man: Matty Nicholson.
BRISBANE: Reece Walsh; Josiah Karapani, Kotoni Staggs,, Gehemat Shibasaki, Deine Mariner; Billy Walters, Ben Hunt; Corey Jensen, Cory Paix, Payne Haas, Brendan Piakura, Jordan Riki, Pat Carrigan (c). Res: Tyson Smoothy; Kobe Hetherington, Ben Talty, Jaiyden Hunt. 18th man: Jesse Arthars.
Referee: Ashley Klein.